To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints of lost documentation have the Border and Immigration Agency received from members of the public in the last 12 months. (156341)

For the period 1 October 2006 to 30 September 2007, 183 complaints of lost documentation were recorded centrally. However, there will be instances where individuals will have written direct to various business areas which will not have been recorded centrally. It is not possible to state a more precise figure.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions the Border and Immigration Agency has paid compensation to members of the public for lost documentation over the last 12 months; and how much compensation was paid over that period. (156345)

Such a level of detail is not required for the purposes of our ordinary financial reporting or accounting. This information is therefore not routinely available from one source within the Department and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) average and (b) target length of time taken between the receipt of a letter by the Borders and Immigration Agency from an hon. Member and the sending of a substantive reply has been in the last period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. (156289)

In the period 1 January to 31 March 2007, the last period full data is available for, the average length of time it took the Border and Immigration Agency to reply to a letter from an hon. Member was 17.34 working days.

The Border and Immigration Agency’s target is to respond to 95 per cent. of Members’ letters on immigration and nationality related matters within 20 working days. The Agency has already improved significantly from 34 per cent. in 2004 to 54 per cent. in 2005, 78 per cent. in 2006 and should achieve more than 85 per cent. in 2007.